ASA Awarding Body qualifications and their specifications

This section provides full details of all ASA Awarding Body qualifications. These qualifications have been developed by ASA Awarding Body to meet QCF standards and currently range from levels 1 to 3.

Click or tap on the sections below to expand the area you are interested in. Then click the relevant qualification to open a PDF document describing the qualification.

Please note that ASA Awarding Body is not a training provider. We do not run courses. These qualifications contain course specifications only. Go to our Find-a Course page here to track down a training provider near you.

If you cannot find what you are looking for, get in contact with us here. We are happy to answer any questions you may have.

Our Qualifications Explained

The Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) is a system for recognising skills and qualifications. It does this by awarding credit for qualifications and units. Qualifications that are on the QCF are known as regulated qualifications.

All qualifications are grouped in different levels. The level shows how difficult each qualification is, from Entry Level up to Level 8. They are made up of units and every unit and qualification has a credit value and a level.

One credit represents 10 notional hours of learning, showing how much time the average learner would take to complete the unit or qualification.

There are three types of QCF qualification and are based on credit size:

Awards (1 to 12 credits)

Certificates (13 to 36 credits)

Diplomas (37 credits or more)

You can have an award of any difficulty Level from 1 to 8. This is because the type indicates the size of qualification, not its difficulty.

The title of a qualification indicates:

Qualification level (from lowest, Entry Level to Level 8 at the top)

Qualification size (either award/certificate/diploma based on the number of credits)